Cheetah Cheesecake

Sorry this one's so late.. I tried posting a few weeks ago when I completed the cake but my blogger was having technical issues.  Since then, I've been a little busy so I'm just getting back to my blog.  This one was for our SIL, who was celebrating her son's 21st Birthday and wanted a special cake for the occasion.  As far as flavor, she knew she wanted cheesecake because her son LOVES it!  So we decided on a cheesecake flavored cake (which is a basic white cake with cheesecake flavoring added to it).  I filled the cake with actual cheesecake filling, and iced it with cheesecake flavored buttercream. 

When it came to choosing a theme for the cake, she was a bit stumped.  Initially she just wanted to keep it simple, but later decided on a cheetah print.  Why cheetah you might ask? (I know I did ;) ..because when the birthday boy was a child, he 'ran like a cheetah' and so she thought it would be fun to incorporate that into his cake.  The cheetah spots on the cake are actually chocolate buttercream.  It's pretty time consuming to complete the print in all buttercream.. I know there are fondant versions out there as well that may go quicker.  Also, this was my first attempt at it so I'm sure it went a bit slower.  I basically hand-piped all the spots and then smoothed them down as I do when I smooth my frosted cake (enter the viva paper towel method). 

This being my first cheetah print cake, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It seemed to be a hit at the party as well, which always makes my day :)